Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez is living up to Nemanja Vidic's high expectations as a centre-back by giving "150 per cent" in every tackle the Argentinian makes.
Martinez was brought into his national side's starting line-up for their vital clash against Mexico on Saturday, after he was left on the bench for the first hour of Argentina's shock 2-1 defeat by Saudi Arabia. Lionel Scaloni's side knew that a defeat to their North American opposition would have seen them crash out at the group phase after just two games.
Lionel Messi produced yet another moment of magic to put those fears to bed, as he scored a sublime goal in the 64th minute. The Paris Saint-Germain star took a touch to control a pass with his left foot before drilling the ball into the bottom corner from 20 yards out past a helpless Guillermo Ochoa in goal for Mexico.
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Enzo Fernandez then sealed the points for his country as he curled in a superb second with just three minutes to play.
Despite the vast array of attacking talent on display, Martinez stood out with a dominant performance at the back. The United defender played a key role in helping his country keep a clean sheet, as he put his body on the line for the cause.
This was typified when the United man was caught in the face by Hirving Lozano's high boot, yet the 24-year-old refused to pull out of the header, as he powerfully cleared the ball to safety. This is something that Vidic would have been incredibly impressed by, as he opened up on his attitude towards defending during an interview with The Times back in 2017.
He said: “You can fix your nose, but if you let somebody score the goal your pride cannot be fixed. If you looked closely on the pitch you’d have seen others were bigger than me, but I understood this: that if I was going to win a challenge I had to go 150%: not 80%, not 90%, 150%. That’s mental strength: ‘I don’t like to do it but I have to do it’.”
Martinez has also shown his ability with the ball at his feet with some progressive passing under Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford, another trait that the Serbian highly values.
"The game is changing, [Coaches] now want defenders to do both. To play . . . take the ball out from the back and be a midfield player, and at the same time be a defender. It’s not easy to do both, because you have to switch your mentality: ‘OK, now I’m driving with the ball, now I’m going to create something’ to ‘OK, now I’m going to be the fighter’.”
Martinez has already won the hearts of United fans with the passion he displays on the pitch Should he continue in a similar fashion, it may not be too much longer before Vidic and the Argentine are mentioned in the same breath.
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